Sophistry thy name is Wattenberg.
Ben, that is. A long time senior fellow at the
American Enterprise Institute (AEI), which gains its
succor from corporate and conservative donors,
Wattenberg specializes in using anecdotal
"evidence" to subvert arguments backed with
credible data.

In introducing the panel, Krikorian
noted that, while the US government had
no stated official population policy, its
actions in permitting a massive number of
immigrants, both
legal and
illegal to enter the country since
1965, constituted
an implicit population policy. As Backgrounder
author Steve Camarota explained, using updated US
Census Bureau projections, this will likely add 100
million more people by 2060. Significantly, that
number assumes more legal alien arrivals than
illegal—a fact which is currently being overlooked
by far too many of our government officials, who
have gotten the message
only about illegals.

Roy Beck then questioned strongly
whether
adding that number of people would improve the
quality of American life. Beck noted that polls
taken over decades constantly showed that most
Americans wanted immigration reduced.

In a low-voiced, avuncular manner,
Wattenberg started with an anecdote, saying
"Plural anecdotes are data." This should have
brought hoots of derision from his press corps
audience. But it didn`t. Then, he introduced his
housekeeper, Iris, who sat directly behind me in
the audience. She, Wattenberg reported, had come to
America illegally years before. Her present status
was unexplained. But then no one asked.

Iris is the mother of three children,
presumably born here, making them American citizens
(some of us think of them as
"Anchor Babies" because they can bring in
alien relatives). Iris`
husband has left her and she is coping as a
single mother. One child, a fifteen year old boy, is
now a
sophomore in high school and a linebacker on the
football team. He is patriotic and will be
well educated and will make a great contribution
to America—according to his mother`s employer, that
is.

Heartstring-pulling remains the default-mode
gambit of the open border advocates. But, doubtless,
Iris` story will make AEI`s contributors beam with
delight.

Next, Wattenberg noted that in 1790 the
US population was 4 million and now is over 300
million, a "75 times growth", and we became
the greatest country in the history of the world, he
said. So why should we worry if the increase from
now to 2060 of only 56%?

"What`s the problem",
he went on to opine, since we have so
much open space and too many of us live on the
two coasts. Plenty of
open spaces, he chanted.

Then of course he played the race card,
saying that
every wave brought groans from
nativists, about the new comers.
Jews,
Italians, etc. were all hated initially but made
huge contributions. He added that the "Hate Du
Jour" is now Mexicans, who in their
service in the
US military have garnered more Medals of Honor
(did he mean in the current
Iraq War?) than any other ethnic group.
[VDARE.COM NOTE:
This is a
myth.]

Anytime one of the other panelists
offered comments after their opening statements,
Wattenberg constantly popped in with "Let me
say...." For example, at one point, contesting
this
de facto government
policy of massive immigration and non
enforcement of immigration law, Wattenberg cleverly
managed to position CIS`s Krikorian as being against
Social Security, which could fail in the next
generation, even though Camarota`s study clearly
demonstrates that importing this unneeded next 100
million will very minimally add to the number in the
US work force. This opening gave Wattenberg license
to go on about how popular
Social Security was with everyone, etc.,
implying that it was somehow related to the topic
under discussion and that Krikorian was somehow on
the lunatic fringe.

Wattenberg`s hobby horse issue,
addressed in his book, Fewer, is fertility
rates, which have declined in many countries—not
just in
rich, western countries, but also in some
poor, less-developed countries. That the planet
currently adds over 70 million a year in net new
persons, over 95% of them in
"developing nations", and that total world
population will certainly reach 9 billion by 2100
apparently fazes him not a whit. Global warming and
the other problems must not be on his radar scope.
He
just wants more people. Above all, he considers
more immigration into the US an
unmitigated joy.

Wattenberg attacked
Pat Buchanan`s argument that the US is being
overrun by aliens with another anecdote–his
form of data-gathering–by citing a couple at a
Waldorf Astoria cocktail party of "hundreds of
people" in the hotel ballroom who, upon seeing
an "immigrant couple from Mexico" enter, say,
"See, we`re being swamped." Again, the racist
card—and a determination, which must please his
corporate donors, to ignore not only the illegal
alien invasion, but also the larger threat of
present levels of legal immigration.

Camarota pointed out that an intruding
couple at a cocktail party hardly described the
repeated arrival of millions of aliens both
legally and illegally. But Wattenberg`s barrage of
irrelevant comparisons continued throughout the
session.

This CIS report asks Americans to weigh
in on this question: Do we want an additional 100
million people here in the next 50 years?

Are they needed and who benefits from
their arrival are not questions the report answers.
Clearly, Wattenberg`s allies—the US Chamber of
Commerce, the
US Conference of Catholic Bishops and the
various ethnic lobbies—have agendas: cheaper labor
and more members for their groups. Most American
citizens can plainly see with their own eyes the
effect of growth since WW II. It doubled our
population size to 306 million and could raise it to
1 billion by 2100. Crowding is bad enough. But we
ignore the vital topics of cultural and political
assimilation at our peril.

Of course, neither Wattenberg nor I will
be around to see that 2060 date. But I close with my
own anecdote. At 77, I remain fully employed and I
notice that many of my age group are similarly
occupied. I have many friends doing useful work well
into their 90s. (For that matter, Wattenberg is 74.)

Backgrounder author Camarota`s study
assumes a labor force of ages between 15 and 64. He
points out that one way to fix Social Security would
be to raise the retirement age. I suspect that as
automation progresses even further, old folks like
me will be even more capable of doing work that
companies will want to pay for. To add
cheap, young, uneducated workers to our work
force at
poverty level wages, as Wattenberg wants,
claiming that
"they do work Americans won`t", simply is
not smart.

Further, if pay is adequate, young
Americans will be available. And those early
entry-level jobs make a huge impression on their
values and life outlook—if my case (another
anecdote!) is any measure.

"Two years ago, the
United Nations projected that the number of people
on this planet would reach 8.9 billion by 2050. In
March, the UN Population Division revised that
projection to 9.2 billion. If UN demographers are
right, in 43 years the world`s population will
increase by 2.5 billion, up from 6.7 billion today.
That growth is equivalent to how many people lived
on Earth in 1950. The difference in the two UN
projections, separated by only two years, is equal
to today`s population of the United States".